Accent Symbols

Accent Symbols

Although there are many individual sounds as part of North American English, this Web site will focus on sounds created by word reductions, specifically with the schwa sound (ə) that affects stress and rhythm. This will be the focus of this page. I have compiled a helpful table of words that use the schwa sound that you’ll encounter in day-to-day conversations.

Here is a basic list of words that often use this sound, but remember that this sound can be found in many words that have unstressed syllables. This communication practice should be of use to you, whether you are studying the language at home for personal enrichment or seeking out other online learning opportunities. I hope you can learn from it.

Articles:

Word	Reduction	Sample Sentences
a	ə	I bought ə shirt for my brother.
an	ə	There’s ən elephant at the zoo.
the	thə	Please talk to thə teacher about thə test.

Prepositions:

to	tə	I have tə make breakfast təday. I usetə (used to) write her every morning.
for	fər	This letter is fər my mom.
about	əbout	Tell me əbout your weekend.
of	əf or ə	I ate a piece ə pie.

Conjunctions:

and	ən or ‘n	I really like banana ən apples.
or	ər	Would you like water ər juice?

Pronouns:

her	ər	Please tell ər I called.
him	əm / im	I need to talk to im today.
them	əm	How about calling əm today?
you	yə	Did yə like the movie?

Modals of Advice or Ability:

ought to	ought tə	We ought tə leave now.
have got to	have gottə	You’ve gottə go to bed now.
(I/we/they) have to	haftə	I haftə study for a test.
(he/she) has to	hastə	She hastə talk with the teacher.
want to	wannə	I wannə see a movie.
can	kn	She kn speak English very well.

Modals of Regret of Past Speculation:

should have	should əf	I should əf called her last night.
could have	could əf	He could əf traveled overseas, but he chose to work instead.
ought to have	ought tə əf	You ought tə əf checked the used before you bought it.